BHUBANESWAR: The State Government on Tuesday blamed the Centre for the delay in implementation of National Food Security (NFS) Act.
“The State Government is unable to finalise the list of beneficiaries due to non-availability of data from the office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India,” Minister of State for Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Sanjay Dasburma told the Assembly.
The Minister said a list of priority households to be covered under the Act will be prepared on the basis of the National Population Register (NPR) data for the State.
Despite repeated requests from the State Government, the Registrar General and Census Commissioner have provided data of Khurda district only. Identification of priority households of the remaining districts will be undertaken after getting NPR data, the Minister said while replying to annual demand discussion of the department.
Dasburma informed the House that the Government has given its approval to eight exclusion criteria recommended by the official-level committee headed by Development Commissioner for identification of beneficiaries to avail foodgrain.
At the meeting of State Food Ministers in Delhi on July 4, Odisha had requested the Centre to keep the average family size of Antyodaya beneficiaries at 4.34 member instead of five and cover additional 4.15 lakh Scheduled Category students under the NFS Act. Stating that the scheme will be implemented in three phases, the Minister said Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation and Bhubaneswar block will be covered under the NFS Act in the first phase.
“The process of beneficiary identification will be completed within nine months from the date of receiving NPR data,” Dasburma said.
A provision of `10 crore has been made in the budget to prepare digitised ration cards for the beneficiaries. Meanwhile, the Centre has extended the deadline for implementation of the Act by three months till October 4.